


Cold Hands, Warm Heart

by Kalael



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 17:43:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1109726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalael/pseuds/Kalael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People like initiative, they like when others compliment them and smile and laugh at their jokes.  But with Elsa it’s like Anna doesn’t even exist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Hands, Warm Heart

**Author's Note:**

> overused title whoa
> 
> anyway just a quick character study after seeing Frozen today.

The gloves are a physical barrier that Anna cannot overcome. It’s certainly not for lack of trying, because she’s attempted to steal them on multiple occasions only to be scolded by both Elsa and their parents alike. They’re just a stupid pair of gloves, Elsa doesn’t need to wear them even in the summer.

Anna hates them. She misses the cool skin of her sister’s hands, the way her fingers used to card absently through Anna's hair as they lounged in the library, the way their palms pressed together as they ran laughing through the courtyard. Elsa has been cold to the touch for as long as Anna can remember, but she never minded. The cold doesn’t bother her.

\--

Conceal, don’t feel.

It is a mantra that controls every aspect of her life, not just her curse. If she is scared, or angry, or sad, the ice comes unbidden to her fingertips. She had been a promising student in embroidery, once, but frost covers all her needlework now. She has cracked bedframes with the biting cold that emanates from her body at night. Elsa knows that it is better to hide her feelings, to lock them away instead of allowing them to ruin her. She must exercise control. She must not allow herself to hurt anyone ever again.

Eventually, it will be as if she could never feel anything at all.

\--

Anna learns that reaching out to Elsa won’t get her anywhere if Elsa doesn’t respond. People like initiative, they like when others compliment them and smile and laugh at their jokes. But with Elsa it’s like Anna doesn’t even exist. She just gives a vague smile and glides past, gloved hands clasped tightly in front of her and cold air trailing behind her.

Anna stands in that cold breeze and watches her sister’s back, trying to remember the last time she felt her embrace or a kiss on her forehead.

\--

Hot water feels like a punishment. Elsa submerges herself in the bath and when she resurfaces she chokes on the steam. Her skin feels as though it is blistering in the heat and ice crawls along her legs, trying to cool her. It melts, of course, and Elsa stays in the bath until the water is so cold that ice floats on top. Her hair freezes, solid clumps falling into her eyes as she stares down into the water.

Control. She needs control. Elsa raises a hand and tentatively traces the rim of the bathtub, calling forth intricate spirals of snow that flutter into the bath.

She remembers that night with Anna, the accusing white streak in her sister's hair, the gloves sitting on the dresser in her room. The smile slides from her face and she quickly leaves the bath, wrapping herself in a towel and huddling on her bed until the memories and the emotions go away. Calm. Quiet. Control.

\--

The funeral is lonely. Anna cannot recall a time where she has ever felt more alone, even in the empty rooms of the castle. It’s funny because she is surrounded by hundreds of people, all mourning the death of her parents. She hasn’t seen this many people since she was a child and the gates were still open.

Elsa is nowhere to be seen. The servants told everyone that she was bereft, too emotional to attend the funeral, and everyone knows that Elsa is fragile. That’s why she never leaves the castle to begin with.

But Anna knows that’s a lie because Elsa was never once sick in her life, even after running barefoot into the snow. She can’t even feel anger or bitterness, just numbing sadness and resignation. When she stares at Elsa’s door after the funeral, she decides to at least try.

There is, of course, no answer.

\--

Elsa knows that she will one day be queen, and as queen she will be required to face her subjects and lead them with the same personal, honest rule that her parents had set for her long ago. It terrifies her to no end and she dreads each passing month that brings her closer to her coronation. The servants that know of her curse try to reassure her, but Elsa knows that coronation will be the beginning of her ruin.

Nothing frightens her more than losing Anna, though she knows that Anna was already lost to her that night in the ballroom so long ago. Anna, who refuses to give up despite Elsa’s repeated rejections. Anna, who remembers nothing of Elsa’s powers.

Elsa throws herself into her lessons, seeking anything to distract her from the emotions threatening to consume her. Fear is the most prominent, and fear creates the thickest ice of all.

The door is not only closed, it is frozen shut.


End file.
